The Man in the Orange Jacket

“The man in Orange Jacket” Latvia, 2014

Putting Latvian horror cinema on the map, Aik Karapetian’s uncompromising exercise in brutal austerity is an entirely singular slasher film with a tightly honed political conscience. Having sold off one of his harbours, a wealthy industrialist makes 200 employees redundant. Unfortunately for the ruthless mogul, one of his former workers is not willing to accept this fate and makes a deadly plan to invade his former boss’ home and steal a slice of the high life he feels he has been unjustly denied. But as the unnamed assailant starts to enjoy his new-found prosperity, paranoia sets in that someone is silently observing him, watching his every move. Shot with cool precision and a keen eye for visual composition, and told using minimal dialogue, this brooding mood piece is punctuated by moments of intense violence, made all the more jarring by the quiet solemnity that otherwise characterises Karapetian’s impressive debut.